The Global Development Awards Competition 2021 took place on 22 & 25 October 2021 as part of the Global Development Conference 2021 titled Evidence for Development | What Works Global Summit 2021.
“We are very proud that the Global Development Awards and Medals have been promoting research and building networks among researchers — especially young researchers — in developing countries,” says Mr Masashi Tanabe, Director of the Multilateral Development Bank Division, Ministry of Finance, Japan, in his opening remarks. The Competition is generously funded by the Ministry of Finance, Government of Japan since 2000, and since 2011 thanks to the Policy and Human Resources Development (PHRD) Fund administered by the World Bank.
Twelve finalists across four award categories, spanning both development projects and development research, competed for top prizes to scale up and further their work as development practitioners and researchers worldwide. As part of the proceedings, former award grantees from over the years were invited to give their testimonies on the awards.
“Opportunity is precisely the word that symbolises what GDN is all about — opportunities for researchers in the developing world to open new paths in their careers and opportunities to strengthen research capacity in low- and middle-income countries,” says Jaime Saavedra, Director of Education Global Practice at the World Bank and winner of the Japanese Award for Outstanding Research on Development 2002.
And, here are the winners:
Japanese Award for Most Innovative Development Project (Universal Health Coverage and COVID)
1ST PRIZE WINNERS
Kids Home Development Network Foundation
Project: Access to Healthcare for Migrant Families in Thai Construction Site Camps
Project: Hello Saathi
2ND PRIZE WINNER
Project: Establishing Infection Prevention & Control Mechanism in Public Hospitals
1ST PRIZE WINNERS:
International Aid Services Kenya
Project: Capacity building of local community against climate change and improved livelihood
Project: Cleaner Air Better Life - Crop Residue Management
2ND PRIZE WINNER
Dufatanye Organization
Project: Expansion of Villages of Hope in Two Villages in Nyanza District
1ST PRIZE WINNERS
Project: Dream Accelerator
International Transformation Foundation
Project: A Water Kiosk at School - Karugia Secondary School
2ND PRIZE WINNER
Project: Expansion Nepal Waste Map: Community-empowered Governance
Japanese Award for Outstanding Research on Development
1ST PRIZE WINNER
Abdul-Hanan Abdallah, University for Development Studies
Research proposal: Implication of Large-scale Agricultural Investment on Biodiversity - Evidence from Mixed-Method Study of Farm Households in Northern Ghana
2ND PRIZE WINNER
Roger Merino, Universidad del Pacifico - Research Center (CIUP)
Research proposal: Global Amazon - Harmonizing Development Visions and Multi-scalar Interventions in the Building of a Pluriversal Governance
3RD PRIZE WINNER
Chukwuka Onyekwena, Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA)
Research proposal: Evaluation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on Africa’s Biodiversity
Our gratitude
The Global Development Awards Competition (GDAC) has been running since 2000. These awards would not be possible without the generous funding of the Ministry of Finance, Government of Japan and the kind support of the Policy and Human Resources Development Fund, World Bank. Our gratitude goes out to you on behalf of GDN and all former GDAC grantees.
“I want to express our gratitude to the Government of Japan, which has been very visionary in the early 2000s. This was one of the first efforts to promote research in developing countries, while most development research had been conducted in developed countries,” said Pierre Jacquet, President of the Global Development Network.
Finally, we would like to send our sincere appreciation to all members of the jury for each of the four awards given out this year. Thank you for your kind contribution!
- Most Innovative Development Project (Universal Health Coverage and COVID): Abhijit Nadkarni, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Prashant Yadav, Center for Global Development; Saeda Makimoto, JICA Ogata Research Institute.
- Most Innovative Development Project (Community-driven, Climate-related, Disaster Risk-reduction in Rural Areas): Loretta Hieber Girardet, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction; Masahiro Shoji, University of Tokyo; Saeid Eslamian, Center of Excellence in Risk Management and Natural Hazards.
- Most Innovative Development Project (Quality Urban Infrastructure and Community-driven Governance): Helena Nkole, World Bank; Parul Agarwala, UN-Habitat; Ramona Angelescu Naqvi, Global Development Network.
- Outstanding Research on Development: Izumi Ohno, JICA Ogata Research Institute; L. Alan Winters, University of Sussex; Elpidio Peria, ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity; Marianne Kettunen, Forum on Trade, Environment and the SDGs.
